How to Make a Weighted Sandbag
Details
Details
In many of our Sailrite® how-to videos, you may have noticed that we use multiple square bags to hold our fabric assemblies in place. These are weighted sandbags, which are small notions that can make a big difference on your next sewing project. If you’ve ever been curious how to make some for yourself, you’re in luck. Today we’ll walk you through the process of making your own weighted sandbags for sewing and patterning!
One of the best things about weighted sandbags is their versatility and convenience. They’re extremely beneficial for patterning as they hold your pattern in place while you mark your fabric and cut. Putting a weighted sandbag on a zipper allows you to easily apply double sided tape or basting tape along the flange. Sandbags also work great for long projects so you can actually move the fabric along a slippery table without the material falling off. Slight breeze in your workshop or are you working outside? Place sandbags on the corners of your assembly to keep it from flapping or blowing away. The list goes on and on! Once you’ve made them, you can place them just about anywhere you like. They’ll save you the hassle of needing an extra hand while patterning or basting fabric.
The specific size and weight of our weighted sandbags is the perfect combination to successfully secure most upholstery jobs. In our instructional video, we’ll illustrate how to make these time saving sewing notions using Top Notch® 9 fabric. One yard of this fabric will make seven weighted sandbags. We chose Top Notch 9 fabric for its durable qualities. It’s a solution-dyed polyester that won’t fade, resists abrasion, repels water and is both breathable and reversible. We’ll then be sewing our bags using a zigzag stitch with the portable, powerful Ultrafeed® LSZ Walking Foot Sewing Machine. For a professional finishing touch, we’ve also added Sailrite Woven Sew In Tags to let the world know that we’ve created our DIY with help from Sailrite!
Can you think of any other uses for these versatile weighted sandbags? How do you plan to use them to aid your next project? We’d love to see your photos and hear what you have to say in the comments!